This past week was a great one for the Phillies. It also puts Ryne Sandberg in prime position to be officially tested. With the return of Cole Hamels, the Phillies have a complete roster for the first time in years. World Champion and five-time division winner Charlie Manuel was fired despite not having a complete roster for two years, so it will be interested how much rope and forgiveness the organization and fans have for Sandberg if he cannot win with the roster healthy.
Like he has been all season, Sandberg has been in the forefront of questioning on a number of moves this week. I was particularly interested to see how Sandberg would handle to apparent lack of hustle and mental mistake Freddie Galvis made out in the field this week. Galvis took his sweet time on a routine ground ball to short and let the burly Juan Uribe beat his throw out at first.
Under Charlie Manuel, if a player did not hustle, he was benched. That happened twice with Jimmy Rollins (though on the bases, not in the field), and he was benched. Fans and media members even called for Rollins to be suspended for multiple series when it happened in 2012, but he only got the rest of the game off. Galvis was not lifted from the game. It would be interesting to see if this happens again, as Sandberg now has set a precedent for not doing anything when a player does not “bust it.”
One thing that I like from Sandberg is he is giving a few guys different opportunities to see and play the game from different positions and spots in the order. Carlos Ruiz in particular has benefitted from this. Ruiz is hitting .400 from outside of the seventh spot in the order, as Sandberg has given him a few looks in the top half of the order. He said in Spring Training he wants to give some guys a few different views and perspectives of playing the game, and Ruiz seems to be a guy responding positively.
I noticed during the broadcast that Tom McCarthy on Sunday said, “No fooling around for the Phillies in their lineup today”. I don’t know if “fooling around” is what they have been doing, but there at least is some differentiation in the lineups and by McCarthy making a point to say they are not fooling around means there is at least some day-to-day changes in the lineup. Aside from being a baseball decision, it also represents a change in the culture Charlie Manuel had instilled. He believed in letting players know their roles and them always knowing what they are doing or where they are hitting. Instead of Ryan Howard always knowing he is hitting fourth, there is at least some question when the lineup comes out if it is fourth or fifth.
Finally, I did not like Sandberg passive aggressively applying blame for a guy he selected to be a pinch runner for not running fast. Sandberg has inserted John Mayberry Jr. to run for Howard (a slight upgrade, but not a major one). When Marlon Byrd singled to left field, Sandberg expressed disappointment that Mayberry went first-to-third on the ball hit to the left side.
"To me, that is a first-to-third play and it might have been a double for Byrd," Sandberg said. "With (Campana's) arm strength and being around by the warning track, we have a pinch runner in there to go from first and third. It is not an extra-inning game. You are trying to tie the game. We are trying to get runs in the eighth. You put a runner in there to tie the game up with a double."
Mayberry is an underperformer, he has been his whole career. Expecting him to blaze around the bases like Vince Coleman is just silly. I would have liked for Sandberg to look in the mirror and realize it is not a good move to expect a mediocre-at-best baseball player to be outstanding. Mayberry is a chronic underachiever and expecting him to give something extra is just silly.
Something to keep an eye on: Sandberg is supposed to be “Mr. Fundamental”, at least compared to Charlie Manuel, but the one player whom has played for him the most over the last four years, Dom Brown, looks in the field at times like he’s never actually been taught the fundamentals—or they were barely stressed to him. It will be interesting to see if Brown improves at all this season, now a year older and Sandberg has a full year to work with the left fielder.
